Listen for the Brady Bunch bit to Here I Am, Lord! It really fits. And watch out for those eagles wings so you don't end up in the nest on the cliff!
Gather is PERFECT for liturgical dance!
And from Fr. Z's blog
Sometimes the best way to deal with the ridiculous is to...well...treat it like it's ridiculous! I nominate Marty Haugen, David Haas, Carey Landry, and Dan Schutte for Most Banal and Ridiculous Music Used in a Liturgical Setting.
And the winner is..........All of them because they all sound so boringly similar and silly.
You nailed it! (Them?)
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
Wow - you really don't like those composers? I think they are in my top ten favorites. "Gather Us In" is one of my absolute favorite opening songs. What would you rather, some good old fashioned chanting? LOL yuck! One of the best things about our parish is our music ministry complete with guitars, cellos, violins, flutes, etc.
ReplyDeleteWell, I wish I could agree with you. Our last pastor dropped the folk group nad put in a lovely "scola cantorum" and over hte next six months Mass attendance dropped 40%! The new pastor hired a music director at 35,000 a year (like there aren't better things to do with the money) and she started a "contemporary choir" with Haugen hoot-nanny stuff--collecitons are up and the 40% is drifting back. I prefer the scola cantorum but at least in our oarish the folks respond to the bad music rather than the good
ReplyDeleteMama T -
ReplyDeleteI don't dislike the composers. I don't even dislike all their music. But I do think it is more about entertainment than worship. And some of it is downright heretical. Gather Us In is one of those. We do not take "the wine and the water." We drink the blood of Christ. We do not "take the bread" or "eat the bread." We eat the body of Christ. Most Catholics don't believe in the Real Presence and it's this type of mushy heretical music that contributes to the ignorance.
As for chanting being "yuck!" there are other choices between Gregorian chant and cabaret-style Church music - hymns that are theologically sound and beautiful. I'm going to post a few.
As Anonymous's post indicates -- for many people it's about entertainment. Frankly, I think that's sad. The focus is supposed to be on God, not on us.